CHAPTER 12
Tak. Tak. Tak.
The sound of Ray's footsteps retreating away from the window was heard.
His head hung low while his shoulders fell dejectedly as he returned back.
He passed by Van who was still in his fallen position.
Seemingly ignoring his friend or more like, he did not even acknowledge his presence.
He walked to an empty corner of the cabin and plopped his ass on the ground.
His back sliding against the wall while he slid down to the floor.
His legs pulled towards his body as he hugged them tightly.
His face buried in between his thighs while he silently sobbed.
Memories of his time with his family flooded into his mind.
Dinner time with both his parents, the laughters they shared and so on.
Ten years ago, his father was forcefully pulled away and sent to the war with the Abberants where he was killed.
Now ten years later, he had just lost his mum and sister too. To the same damn war.
The pain was unbearable as he sobbed continuously while Van finally rose from the ground.
He knew better now than to try and console his friend. He would not listen.
So he just walked forward and sat a few steps away from Ray.
His gaze drifted to the ceiling, staring blankly as from the corner of his own eyes, tears slid down from it to his cheek.
Ray was still silently crying as he drew his legs tighter when something poked him hard in his stomach.
Lifting his head, he stared at his thighs in confusion for a few moments.
Swiftly, he tapped his body until his touch drifted to his pockets.
That was when it clicked in his mind as he pulled out what was in his pockets.
It was a book.
Not just any book, but an ability book.
Gripping it tightly, his injured palm still flowed with blood onto the cover of the book as he stared at it.
His only hope at a better future. His last hope at growing stronger and vanquishing the threat that plunged the world.
He did not know what type of ability he would get from the book.
But even if it was the most useless and trashy one, he would make sure he turned it around and made it into a weapon against the Abberants.
'... And the government.'
His teeth gnashed back and forth as he lifted his head to stare into the space in front of him.
His fingers curled tightly across the edges of the book.
'They could have sent the Vanguard order to wall rose. With the advancement of technology, they could have arrived swiftly and helped us take down the Abberants but they did not.'
He paused as his eyes narrowed down to slits.
'... We were abandoned to our fate. Abandoned to die for what? I do not know yet but I promise, I will find my answers no matter what.
Because I do not understand why my family had to die for nothing when the damned government could have helped. Ahhhhh~!'
He raged inwardly for a few moments before taking in deep breaths to calm himself as he finally stopped scrunching the book in his hands while staring at it.
A small painful smile flashed across his face.
'As soon as I'm done learning this book, I will join the Vanguard order.'
He was determined.
Ready to do anything to actualise his vision of destruction no matter what it took.
Van on noticing the shift in expression around Ray opened his mouth to say something.
But he closed it back again, unsure of what to say to his friend.
It was clear that the events of the day had shattered something in him and so did it to him too.
He hugged his legs close to his chest as he buried his face into his thighs letting the tears flow.
He was an orphan that lost both parents to the damn war.
Taken in by his old grandfather, he strived to become better and ease the burden on the poor man's shoulders.
And now… now, he was taken from him too.
His only family left who was Ray, was treating him weirdly and differently as if he did not exist.
It hurt. It hurts a lot.
Ray exhaled deeply as his mood was slightly uplifted and he looked up as his mouth opened up to say something to Van when.
— What's that?!
The question suddenly perked everybody's interest as they turned to the side to see a man standing in front of the window Ray had opened up earlier.
— Huh?
Someone mumbled as they groggily rose up and sauntered to the window in confusion.
The tiredness on his face disappeared in an instant as his eyes widened in horror.
— Shit. Everybody duck!
The warning came in a little too late as everybody were too stupefied to move or do anything when.
WAM—!
Something collided with the bus from the side with the force of two bullet trains.
This instantly caused the bus to bounce upwards for a moment as all the humans inside were suddenly thrown off their feet with force.
"Ack…" Ray groaned loudly as his injured back collided with the ceiling of the bus.
The bus crashed back to the ground with immense force throwing him back to the floor as his head slammed into the ground forcefully causing the injury on his forehead to widen more.
His vision blurred for a moment as he began patting the ground frantically, searching for something.
During the bouncing up and down, he had lost his grip on his ability book and now, he was searching for it.
"Ugh…" he spat blood in pain as he pushed through the agony, determined to get his ability book.
He rose up and staggered around for a few seconds as everybody in the bus was currently regaining their composure.
His gaze landed on the book and he immediately lunged forward but he miscalculated his next step causing him to fall face flat into the ground.
With ragged breath, he began crawling on the floor like a worm trying to reach for the book at any cost.
Suddenly, a loud whistle from above caused everybody to instinctively yank their heads upward to stare at the steel ceiling as if they could see what was producing the sound.
But they could not.
— What's going on? Is it the Abberants?
Hearing this, Ray grit his teeth hard and he scurried forward at immense pace.
His bloodied hand reaching for the book with his might and determination when.
BAM—!
Something collided with the roof of the bus with the force of a siege ram causing the whole thing to bounce for a moment.
This threw everybody off their feet all except for Ray who had his eyes fixed on the book refusing to let it out of his sight.
His bleeding hand reached for the book which was now inches away from him when a loud sizzling sound from above caught his attention.
Everybody turned to the ceiling, hearts skipping loudly in fright of what was happening.
It did not take more than a heartbeat for a hole to burn through the roof and something fell from the sky landing on the ground with a small thud.
Ray quickly tore his gaze from this as he finally got to his book, hands raised ready to snatch it when screams tore through the air.
— It's a rock. And it… it's moving.
[Searching…]
A small glowing light appeared in front of the stirring rock as it began illuminating the humans one by one.
Until the light landed on Ray who was determined on getting his book.
[Search Complete]